How to Get Into Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine: The Definitive Guide

The Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine in Portland traces its roots to the late 19th century and is one of the oldest medical schools in the western United States. It is the medical school of Oregon’s only public academic medical center, and its Doctor of Medicine (MD) program runs on a competency-based curriculum called YOUR M.D. Training reaches well beyond Portland: every student completes a rotation in a rural Oregon community, and the admissions office says outright that it looks for applicants interested in rural health, underserved areas and primary care, or in biomedical research.

This guide covers the 2026-2027 application cycle, for students entering in August 2027. It explains who OHSU prefers, what the minimum GPA and MCAT are, what the curriculum looks like year by year, what tuition and living costs to expect, and how the virtual Multiple Mini Interview works. It also reproduces every 2026-2027 secondary prompt word for word, with original example responses and analysis for the seven essays and the activity timeline question.

Be an Informed Applicant

OHSU is highly competitive, and it is especially competitive for applicants from outside Oregon. More than 6,000 applications arrive each year for a class of about 150, and 93% of those applications come from out of state. Your AMCAS primary application tells every school about your grades, scores and experiences. OHSU’s secondary application asks a different question: whether you, specifically, will do well in this program and serve the people Oregon needs physicians for.

Applying well means knowing the school before you write a word. The sections below cover OHSU’s mission and identity, its programs and curriculum, its requirements and preferences, its class profile and costs, and the secondary essays and interview. Facts were checked against OHSU’s own pages on October 28, 2026. Consider bookmarking this page and returning to it as each stage of the cycle opens.

Key Takeaways

• Check eligibility yourself. OHSU requires a cumulative AMCAS GPA of at least 2.80 and an MCAT of at least 497 taken in 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, permanent residents or DACA recipients. OHSU does not prescreen, so it may send you a secondary even if you are ineligible.
• Oregon ties matter most. The school gives strong preference to Oregon residents and to nonresidents with Oregon Heritage. 82% of entering students are Oregon residents, even though 93% of applicants are not.
• Nonresidents need standout records. Preference also goes to nonresidents with outstanding academics and significant health care, leadership, extracurricular or community service experience, to applicants who have overcome adversity or experienced health care inequities, to WICHE-certified applicants and to MD/PhD and MD/MPH candidates.
• The class average is high. OHSU’s entering class averages a 3.66 total GPA, a 3.57 science GPA and a 509 MCAT. Accepted applicants for the 2025 entering class had a median MCAT of 511 and a median GPA of 3.83. The minimums are floors, not targets.
• No prerequisites, no Casper. Seventeen recommended AAMC premedical competencies have fully replaced prerequisite coursework, and only the MCAT is required.
• The secondary is long. Expect seven 1,550-character essays, two optional questions, a 4,000-character activity timeline explanation, three supplemental questions and a $120 processing fee. Deadlines are rolling, with a final due date of December 15, 2026, and the AMCAS deadline is October 15, 2026.
• Interviews are virtual. OHSU runs a remote Multiple Mini Interview with 8-minute stations plus a 30-minute one-on-one interview, from September through February.
• Tuition is fixed once you enroll. Under the OHSU Tuition Promise, MD tuition does not rise after your first year if you finish on schedule. First-year tuition in 2025-26 was $12,243 per term for residents and $18,820 per term for nonresidents.

Key Statistics About OHSU School of Medicine

The snapshot and table below gather OHSU’s key admissions and cost figures. OHSU publishes its applicant snapshot and entering-class averages on its admissions page without stating the year they describe, so they are labeled “current school profile” here. Tuition comes from the school’s official 2025-26 tuition and fee schedule, the newest MD rate table available to check. Living costs come from OHSU’s 2026-2027 cost of attendance budget. Medians, residency shares and enrollment are labeled with the 2025 entering class or the date they describe.

What Are OHSU School of Medicine’s Average MCAT and GPA?

OHSU’s entering class has an average total GPA of 3.66, an average science GPA of 3.57 and an average MCAT of 509 (OHSU MD Program Admissions). The minimums for the 2027 cycle are a 2.80 cumulative GPA and a 497 MCAT.

Accepted applicants for the 2025 entering class had a median MCAT of 511 and a median total GPA of 3.83, with a median science GPA of 3.79. Section medians were 128 in Chemical and Physical Foundations, 127 in CARS, 128 in Biological and Biochemical Foundations and 129 in Psychological, Social and Biological Foundations. Postbaccalaureate and graduate coursework count toward the 2.80 cumulative minimum, so strong later coursework helps with eligibility.

The gap between those two sets of numbers is wide on purpose. OHSU weighs residency, mission fit and experience heavily, so an Oregon resident with a 3.5 GPA, deep rural health experience and a 506 MCAT may be a stronger fit than a nonresident with a 3.9 and little clinical work. For nonresidents, the averages are a better guide than the minimums, because the school’s preference for out-of-state applicants is limited to those with “outstanding achievements.”

Mission and Educational Priorities

OHSU describes itself as “dedicated to improving the health and quality of life for all Oregonians through excellence, innovation and leadership in health care, education and research.” Its university mission, published on the MD program’s home page, has four parts (OHSU M.D. Program):

• “Educate tomorrow’s health professionals, scientists, engineers and managers in top-tier programs that prepare them for a lifetime of learning, leadership and contribution.”
• “Explore new basic, clinical and applied research frontiers in health and biomedical sciences, environmental and biomedical engineering and information sciences, and translate these discoveries wherever possible into applications in the health and commercial sectors.”
• “Deliver excellence in health care, emphasizing the creation and implementation of new knowledge and cutting-edge technologies.”
• “Lead and advocate for programs that improve health for all Oregonians, and extend OHSU’s education, research and health care missions through community service, partnerships and outreach.”

Why Oregon Health and Science University?

The School of Medicine sits in Portland, one of the most scenic and walkable cities in the country, on a hill above downtown with a second campus along the Willamette River at South Waterfront. It is part of the hospital system that U.S. News and World Report routinely names No. 1 in Oregon, and students have access to all the resources of the state’s only public academic medical center.

The school’s focus is its home state. The MD program prepares more than 2,200 students and trainees in the School of Medicine overall “to advance health for all and serve where needed from urban to rural settings in Oregon and beyond.” Every MD student completes a rural rotation in an Oregon community, and the admissions office lists interest in rural health, underserved areas and primary care as a selection factor. At the same time, OHSU is a major research institution. The Knight Cancer Institute, the Casey Eye Institute and a large basic science enterprise give students real research options.

The curriculum is built for doctoring in the 21st century. Medical knowledge and technology change quickly, so YOUR M.D. emphasizes lifelong learning, teamwork, communication, data interpretation, information technology and quality science, alongside the biomedical sciences. Much of the teaching happens in small groups, and assessment is frequent, personal and competency-based.

What the Mission Means for Your Application

OHSU’s priorities translate into four practical signals for applicants:

1. Show where you will practice. The school says it wants graduates “committed to becoming health care leaders who meet patients’ needs throughout the Northwest.” Oregon roots, rural work or a clear reason to train and serve in the region carry weight.
2. Show that you learn on your own. OHSU says its successful students are “independent, lifelong learners.” Self-directed projects, teaching roles and evidence that you seek out feedback all fit this.
3. Show depth in either service or science. The admissions committee looks for an interest in rural health, underserved areas and primary care, or an understanding of health care issues and an interest in biomedical research. You do not need both, but you need real depth in one.
4. Show how you handle hard things. Applicants who have overcome adversity or personally experienced inequities in the health care system receive preference, and several secondary prompts ask about setbacks, feedback and changed beliefs.

Accreditation and Institutional Identity

OHSU’s MD program holds full accreditation from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME), the body that accredits MD programs in the United States and Canada. On October 31, 2023, the LCME cleared the program of all remaining areas requiring improvement, giving it satisfactory performance in all 93 accreditation elements. The next full LCME survey and site visit is scheduled for 2027-2028 (OHSU School of Medicine Accreditation). The university itself is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, which reaffirmed its accreditation in 2023.

Oregon Health & Science University is a public corporation, governed by a board whose members are nominated by the governor and approved by the Oregon Senate. It includes the Schools of Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry and Public Health (the last run jointly with Portland State University) and a College of Pharmacy. The School of Medicine also houses the Physician Assistant program, graduate programs and the residencies OHSU sponsors.

History of the School of Medicine

The school’s history explains much of its identity (OHSU School of Medicine History). Members of Willamette University’s medical department in Salem began the first formal medical education program in Oregon. The University of Oregon later established a medical school in Portland, and the two programs merged to form the University of Oregon Medical School. The school moved to its present home on Marquam Hill in southwest Portland, where Doernbecher Memorial Hospital for Children became the first full-service children’s hospital in the Pacific Northwest. OHSU celebrated the 125th anniversary of the School of Medicine’s founding in 2012, which makes the school about 139 years old in 2026.

Several milestones show the school’s long rural focus. It established Area Health Education Centers to improve access to care across Oregon and to support primary care clerkships for medical students. It launched a rural family medicine residency in Klamath Falls that has helped bring new physicians to rural Oregon. It also established the Dotter Interventional Institute to honor the school’s pioneer in interventional radiology.

Rankings and Recognition

OHSU’s hospital system is routinely named No. 1 in Oregon by U.S. News and World Report, a recognition the admissions office highlights. The school’s admissions criteria and required rural rotation show that primary care and rural practice are central to its identity, not side programs. Because ranking methods and categories change from year to year, check the current U.S. News medical school lists directly if rankings factor into your decision, and weigh them less than fit, cost and where you want to practice.

Medical Programs and Affiliations

The School of Medicine offers programs at the bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral levels. This guide focuses on the MD program, but OHSU’s dual degrees and special tracks matter for MD applicants, because some must be chosen at the time of application and some receive admissions preference.

MD Program

The MD program, also called Undergraduate Medical Education (UME), is a four-year program built around the YOUR M.D. curriculum. It is led by Benjamin Schneider, M.D., Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education, within the School of Medicine Office of Education. The main UME office is on the fifth floor of the Robertson Life Sciences Building’s south tower at South Waterfront. Students begin with a one-week Transition to Medical School course and a White Coat Ceremony, then move through the Foundations of Medicine and Clinical Experience phases described in the curriculum section below.

MD/PhD Program

The MD/PhD program trains physician-scientists and is fully funded, covering tuition, fees and a stipend for every enrolled student. Funding comes from the School of Medicine, endowed funds and a National Institute of General Medical Sciences training grant for OHSU’s Medical Scientist Training Program (OHSU Degree, Dual Degree and Other Opportunities). Students usually finish in seven to eight years.

PhD options in the School of Medicine include behavioral neuroscience, biochemistry and molecular biology, biomedical engineering, cancer biology, cell and developmental biology, bioinformatics and computational biomedicine, health and clinical informatics, molecular and medical genetics, molecular microbiology and immunology, neuroscience, and physiology and pharmacology. Students may also pursue a PhD in the School of Public Health.

Each MD/PhD student gets a Scientific Oversight Committee that helps plan coursework, the qualifying exam and thesis research. Students start with the Foundations years of the MD curriculum, use research rotations to choose a graduate program, and then complete the PhD before returning for clinical training. Program-specific requirements include a weekly journal club, a one-term Professional Development Fundamentals course and an eight-week Clinical and Translational Research Experience in the final MD year. During the PhD years, students can keep their clinical skills current by precepting with OHSU physicians.

The program expects prior research experience and a firm commitment to academic medicine. MD/PhD candidates receive admissions preference, but the program does not accept applicants with DACA status. The program director is David M. Lewinsohn, M.D., Ph.D.

MD/MPH Dual Degree Program

The MD/MPH program is a five-year program sponsored jointly by the School of Medicine and the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. Students currently complete the MPH with an epidemiology concentration and can take electives in other MPH tracks. Admission to the MD/MPH happens only at the time of initial admission to the MD program, so you must decide before you apply.

The sequence is specific. Students start with an introductory epidemiology course in July and early August, before medical school begins. In the first year they take a weekly public health and medicine seminar in winter and a community health course in spring. The concentrated MPH year usually runs from September of the third academic year through early August of the next. In the final two and a half years, students finish their clinical experiences, apply for residency and complete the MPH practice experience and integrative project. MD/MPH candidates receive admissions preference. The program director is Alex Foster, M.D., M.P.H.

Physician-Scientist Experience and Other Opportunities

Students who want research training without a PhD have other routes:

• Physician-Scientist (P-S) experience. Sponsored by the Oregon Clinical and Translational Research Institute (OCTRI) and the Human Investigation Program, it offers a five-month research block that earns 18 credits and keeps students on a four-year timeline, or a year-out option that adds a Master of Clinical Research degree and graduates students with an MD and MCR in five years. Information sessions are held each October, and applications run from November to January.
• Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) dual program. A six-year combined MD and OMS residency track that admits two to three students per year.
• Pathology Student Experience. A year-long leave of absence working in the Department of Pathology with responsibilities similar to a first-year pathology resident.
• Oregon FIRST. A program with the Cascade East Family Medicine Residency that intensifies the final part of medical school for students entering rural family medicine training.
• Native Health Experience. Run by the Northwest Native American Center of Excellence, this longitudinal experience from spring of the first year through graduation includes a course on American Indian and Alaska Native health and at least four weeks at Tribal health clinical sites.

Other Programs in the School of Medicine

The School of Medicine also offers programs outside the MD pathway. These are separate applications and do not share admissions with the MD program.

• Physician Assistant Program. OHSU’s PA program awards the Master of Physician Assistant Studies and holds programmatic accreditation from the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA). It is one of the programs covered by the OHSU Tuition Promise. Students weighing a PA career alongside medicine can start with hands-on pre-PA internships to compare the two roles.
• Radiation Therapy Program. The School of Medicine offers a Bachelor of Science in Radiation Therapy that prepares students for careers delivering radiation treatment to cancer patients. It is also covered by the Tuition Promise.

Clinical Affiliations

MD students rotate at OHSU hospitals and clinics, the Portland VA, and community and regional sites across Oregon. OHSU Doernbecher Children’s Hospital is on the Marquam Hill campus, and an enclosed sky bridge connects OHSU Hospital with the Portland VA Medical Center. The required rural rotation takes students to communities that are at least 10 miles from the center of any Oregon population center of 40,000 or more.

Curriculum Overview

OHSU’s MD curriculum is called YOUR M.D. It replaces the traditional model of two years of science followed by two years of clinical work. Instead, science and clinical skills are woven together from the start, students see patients early through preceptorship and simulation, and they take on more patient care responsibility as they progress (OHSU YOUR M.D. Curriculum). The school says the curriculum aims to “balance emphasis on the scientific basis of medicine with early clinical experience” and to let students individualize their education.

Why does OHSU teach this way? Medical knowledge expands and shifts quickly, tools keep changing, and practice keeps getting more complex. So the school focuses on critical thinking, problem-solving, continuous learning and collaboration, not just memorizing today’s facts.

Competencies and Threads

YOUR M.D. defines 17 competencies that every student must demonstrate before graduation. Each falls under one of six domains of competence:

• Patient care and procedures
• Medical knowledge
• System-based practice
• Practice-based learning and improvement
• Interpersonal and communication skills
• Professionalism and personal and professional development

Students meet these competencies through many kinds of assessment: classroom work, evaluated experiences in simulated and real clinical settings, and workplace-based observation. Alongside the competencies, the school identifies “threads” that run through the entire curriculum: anatomy, embryology, histology, cell biology, genetics, biochemistry, nutrition, physiology, pathology, pharmacology, microbiology, immunology, professionalism, ethics, communication, patient interview and examination and clinical reasoning, epidemiology and evidence-based medicine and informatics, health policy and quality and safety, and health equity, diversity and structural competency.

Entrustable Professional Activities and Workplace-Based Assessments

Before graduation, students must show they can perform the Core Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for entering residency, the AAMC framework of activities every new resident should be able to do. Starting in academic year 2025-2026, OHSU uses updated EPA wording:

• “EPA 1a – Obtain a hypothesis-driven history” and “EPA 1b – Perform a tailored physical examination”
• “EPA 2 – Generate a prioritized differential diagnosis for a clinical encounter”
• “EPA 3 – Interpret diagnostic or screening tests for a clinical encounter”
• “EPA 4 – Enter orders including prescriptions for a clinical encounter”
• “EPA 5 – Document a clinical encounter in the patient record”
• “EPA 6 – Provide an oral presentation of a clinical encounter”
• “EPA 7 – Use literature to make a patient care recommendation”
• “EPA 8 – Communicate a patient handover to transition responsibility of care”
• “EPA 9 – Advance patient care through interprofessional collaboration”
• “EPA 10 – Recognize a patient requiring urgent assessment and escalate care”
• “EPA 11 – Lead shared decision-making discussions for patient care”

Students must complete 100 workplace-based assessments (WBAs). More than half must be done by attending physicians, and at least two must cover each EPA. In practice, this means you will receive frequent, specific feedback from supervising physicians throughout the clinical years. If you are comfortable asking for feedback and acting on it, OHSU’s model will suit you.

Foundations of Medicine Phase

The Foundations of Medicine (FoM) phase spans six terms, from the summer of year 1 through the fall of year 2. It opens with Transition to Medical School, a one-week orientation where students meet classmates, earn Basic Life Support certification, get access to the Epic electronic health record and join an interprofessional orientation with nursing, dentistry, pharmacy and PA students. The week ends with the White Coat Ceremony.

Seven required courses follow, each with an enrichment week for individualized learning:

1. Fundamentals. Core concepts in anatomy, biochemistry, cell biology, embryology, genetics, histology, microbiology and pharmacology, plus professionalism, ethics, communication, epidemiology, biostatistics, evidence-based medicine, informatics, health policy, interviewing and the physical exam.
2. Blood and Host Defense. Normal blood and immune function and their diseases.
3. Skin, Bones and Musculature. The musculoskeletal system, joint pain, rashes and rheumatologic disease.
4. Cardio, Pulmonary and Renal. The heart, lungs and kidneys in health and disease, as integrated systems.
5. Hormones and Digestion. The gastrointestinal tract and endocrine organs.
6. Nervous System and Function. Neurophysiology, neuropathology and common neurologic and behavioral disorders.
7. Developing Human. The life cycle from conception through aging and death, including reproductive health, pediatrics, geriatrics and palliative care.

During FoM, students are also enrolled in Preceptorship and Narrative Medicine, an introduction to the Scholarly Project and interprofessional education. Preceptorship is the first clinical experience, where students work with a practicing clinician and learn reflective practice. All students also take Foundations of Patient Safety, a one-credit course shared with learners from every OHSU school. Students who want to compare how nurses and physicians share care can look at nursing internships abroad as one example of team-based clinical exposure.

Clinical Experience Phase

Most students start the Clinical Experience phase in the second year, after a Transition to Clinical Experiences course. Core clinical experiences cover:

• Family medicine
• Internal medicine
• Neurology
• Obstetrics and gynecology
• Pediatrics
• Psychiatry
• Surgery

Students rotate at OHSU, the VA and community and regional sites. Two structural requirements stand out:

• Rural Rotation. At least four full-time weeks in a rural Oregon community, in any clinical discipline or in community-focused work.
• Continuity Clinical Experience. At least eight full-time weeks (seven if taken in winter term) that give students continuity in at least two of three ways: the same patient population, the same health system or the same preceptor.

After the core experiences, students take the Clinical Performance Exam (CPX), a required summative assessment. The school describes it as cases “that mirror common problems students should be prepared to identify and manage following completion of their core clinical experiences.” Testing intersessions, usually a week each, give students time to prepare for and take national NBME subject exams.

Intersessions

Intersessions bring students back together to connect basic science with clinical care. Current intersessions cover cancer; cognitive impairment; infection; pain and addiction; the coronavirus pandemic, including its epidemiology, ethics and health disparities; and disability, in a course co-created by students and faculty with disabilities.

Electives and Transition to Residency

Students must pass at least 34 elective credits, including at least 22 credits of clinical electives. Clinical electives can be at OHSU, a regional site, an away rotation or an international clinical experience. In the final year, every student takes Transition to Residency, which covers communicating with patients and families, the non-clinical side of practice, a review of basic clinical skills, the principles of overdiagnosis and general readiness for residency.

Both the Foundations of Medicine and Clinical Experience phases are graded Pass/No Pass, and students are not ranked. Core clinical rotations begin in the winter term of the second year.

Scholarly Projects

Every student completes a Scholarly Project, an in-depth investigation of a topic of interest carried out over the course of medical school. The goal is to build critical thinkers and lifelong learners who can define and answer important questions in clinical practice and health care delivery. Students on the Physician-Scientist track can fulfill the requirement through their research block.

Narrative Medicine and Reflective Practice

Narrative medicine runs through YOUR M.D. Students write field notes, which are short written responses to reflection prompts, during the Foundations and clinical phases. Trained faculty readers give narrative feedback, and students discuss their field notes in peer reflection sessions, some led by upper-level “Student Champions.” During intersessions and selected electives, students use non-medical texts, visual art, graphic medicine and film to consider illness from multiple perspectives. In OHSU’s words, narrative medicine “provides an opportunity to look beyond a disease and consider what it means to be human in medicine.” If you enjoy reflective writing, the secondary essays are good practice for this part of the curriculum.

Admissions Requirements and Application Process

OHSU’s requirements are published on its admissions page and in a detailed FAQ for the 2027 admissions cycle (OHSU MD Program 2027-Cycle FAQ). Separate the true requirements, which you must meet, from the preferences and class averages, which describe who tends to be admitted.

Eligibility Requirements

• GPA. A cumulative total GPA of at least 2.80, as reported by AMCAS.
• MCAT. A cumulative score of at least 497 on an eligible MCAT. For the 2027 cycle, eligible MCATs are those taken in 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026, from January 2023 through December 31, 2026. Interview screeners can see all of your scores.
• Citizenship. U.S. citizenship, DACA status, or permanent residency with a green card. OHSU encourages permanent residents to complete at least one year of full-time coursework at a U.S. college or university. The MD/PhD program does not accept DACA status.
• Degree. A bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. OHSU has no preferred major and encourages coursework across the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences and mathematics.

OHSU does not prescreen AMCAS applications for these requirements. If you receive a secondary invitation, that does not mean you are eligible. Check your record before paying the $120 processing fee, which is not refunded for any reason, including ineligibility.

Recommended Competencies Instead of Prerequisites

OHSU has no required prerequisite courses. Instead, it recommends 17 premedical core competencies from the AAMC framework, and the school says these “have fully replaced all prerequisite coursework.” They fall into three groups:

• Professional competencies: commitment to learning and growth, empathy and compassion, ethical responsibility to self and others, interpersonal skills, oral communication, reliability and dependability, resilience and adaptability, self-awareness, service orientation, teamwork and collaboration, and understanding others.
• Science competencies: human behavior and living systems.
• Thinking and reasoning competencies: critical thinking, quantitative reasoning, scientific inquiry and written communication.

No required courses does not mean no science. You still need to master the content the MCAT and the Foundations courses demand. Most successful applicants take biology, general and organic chemistry, biochemistry, physics, statistics and psychology or sociology. For a school-by-school view, see IMA’s medical school prerequisites checklist.

Admissions Preferences and Selection Factors

OHSU gives strong preference to:

• Oregon residents.
• Nonresidents with Oregon Heritage.
• Nonresidents with outstanding achievements in academics and significant experiences in health care, leadership, extracurricular activities and/or community service.
• Applicants with a demonstrated ability to overcome adversity and/or who have personally experienced inequities within the health care system.
• Applicants to OHSU’s dual-degree programs, including the MD/PhD and MD/MPH.
• Applicants who are WICHE-certified in allopathic medicine.

The admissions committee also states that it “strongly encourages applications from persons from all socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, religious, and educational backgrounds and from persons from groups underrepresented in medicine.”

Oregon residency is set by OHSU policy and administered by the Registrar. You must declare Oregon as your state of legal residence on both the AMCAS application and the OHSU secondary. Criteria include twelve continuous months of physical presence in Oregon before matriculation while not a full-time student, being a tax dependent of parents or guardians who are Oregon residents, or graduating from an Oregon high school within the last seven years with parents or guardians who are Oregon residents.

Oregon Heritage applies to nonresidents who meet one of three criteria: a parent or legal guardian lives in Oregon at the time of application; you attended an Oregon high school for at least two years and graduated from it; or you attended an Oregon college or university for at least two years, graduated from it and apply within seven years of graduating. Heritage applicants get the same admissions preference as residents but pay nonresident tuition.

WICHE certification applies to residents of Montana, Wyoming, Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, who must send OHSU a copy of their WICHE certification letter.

The committee evaluates each applicant on motivation, ability to communicate, life-enriching experiences, problem-solving ability and maturity; the overall academic record; MCAT scores; letters; understanding and appreciation of health care issues and/or biomedical research; and interest in rural health, underserved areas and primary care. MD/PhD applicants are also judged on their commitment to and potential for biomedical research.

Experience Expectations

OHSU does not publish minimum clinical, shadowing or volunteer hours. Its selection factors make clear that health care experience matters, especially for nonresidents, whose preference depends on “significant experiences in health care, leadership, extracurricular activities and/or community service.” Aim for sustained, hands-on patient contact over months or years rather than many short activities. Paid roles such as scribe, CNA, EMT or medical assistant, long-term clinic volunteering and well-supervised pre-med internships all count, as long as you can explain what you did and what you learned. Rural and underserved settings are especially relevant to OHSU’s mission.

Letters of Recommendation

OHSU requires letters from three college or university teaching faculty from any department, with at least one from teaching faculty in a science department. You may instead submit a letter packet with at least three individual faculty letters or a premedical committee evaluation (committee letter). If you have been out of college for five years or more, you may submit two letters from employers and one from a teaching faculty member.

There is no maximum number of letters. OHSU encourages a well-chosen group that includes nonacademic recommendations from your experiences in health care or physician shadowing and your extracurricular work. A supervisor from a clinic job or from one of your international healthcare internships can speak to how you work with patients and teams, which faculty letters cannot.

All letters must be on official letterhead, signed by the writer, and submitted through the AMCAS Letter Service. If your advisor uses VirtualEvals or Interfolio, AMCAS will pull letters from those services. OHSU does not accept letters sent by email, fax or directly from applicants. The school prefers to receive all letters by the deadline in your secondary invitation email. If you cannot get three letters, OHSU will still process your application, but it says applications with fewer than the required number may be considered less competitive.

Casper and Other Assessments

The Casper test is no longer required. Only the MCAT is required. OHSU does not list PREview or any other situational judgment test. For a current list of schools that do require Casper, see IMA’s guide to medical schools that require Casper.

AMCAS Primary Application and OHSU’s Secondary Application

To apply, you first complete the AMCAS application, the primary application used by almost all MD schools, and designate OHSU. AMCAS sends applications to OHSU from May 31 through October 15, and October 15, 2026 is the primary deadline for the MD, MD/PhD and MD/MPH programs. It can take four to six weeks from when you certify and submit AMCAS until OHSU receives it. IMA’s AMCAS application guide covers the primary in detail.

After OHSU receives your AMCAS application, the admissions staff emails you a link to the online secondary application in the OHSU Admissions Portal. Notifications go out on a rolling basis, and for the 2027 cycle the secondary became available in August. Your individual deadline is in the invitation email, and the final due date for any secondary is December 15, 2026. The secondary includes the essays, an employment and activities history covering the five years before you start medical school, supplemental information questions, the $120 processing fee and, for dual-degree applicants, a combined degree addendum. You can save and edit the secondary until you pay and submit, but not after. For a refresher on how the two stages fit together, read IMA’s post on understanding the differences between primary and secondary medical school applications.

Your application is complete when OHSU has your secondary, your final eligible MCAT score, the fee or a 2027 AMCAS fee waiver and any required documents: a green card copy for permanent residents, DACA approval with an employment authorization document, a WICHE certification letter, narrative evaluations if your college did not give grades, a credential evaluation for any foreign coursework, or tribal affiliation documents if needed for Oregon residency.

Interviews, Decisions and Enrollment

OHSU operates on a modified rolling admissions basis. Seats remain open until interviewing ends, so a late interview is still an interview for a seat, not for the waitlist. After interviews, the committee meets weekly and reviews most files two to eight weeks after the interview. Each candidate receives a priority score based on the committee score, MMI scores and academics. You may be accepted, placed on hold or refused.

• Initial offers go out on a rolling basis from mid-October through April 30. Applicants on hold may be accepted from the hold pool at any time before April 30.
• By May 1, OHSU ranks an alternate list of the top 120 to 200 remaining applicants and notifies alternates. Offers go to alternates in rank order from May 1 to the first day of orientation, and about 50 alternates receive offers in a typical cycle.
• You have up to one month to respond to an offer. No enrollment deposit is required, and there is no Early Decision Program.
• Accepted applicants must commit to enroll through AMCAS at least 21 days before orientation, which takes place in August.
• OHSU does not offer deferred admission, and it is not considering transfer students for academic year 2026-2027.
• After a conditional offer, admitted students undergo a pre-matriculation background check.

Current OHSU graduate students may apply but cannot enroll in the MD program until they finish their current graduate program.

OHSU accepts notices of significant updates or achievements, such as published research, significant honors or substantial new health care or community service. Depending on where your file is in the process, an update may or may not affect it; updates have the most impact around the time interviews are being scheduled.

2026-2027 Application Timeline

If you are still building your record, use the summers before you apply for sustained patient contact. Pre-med summer internships and local clinical jobs both fit the timeline above, since your activity history should show steady involvement in the five years before you start.

Tuition, Cost of Attendance and Financial Aid

OHSU publishes MD tuition per term in its annual Tuition and Fee Book. The 2026-2027 book is hosted in OHSU’s online catalog. The newest MD rate table available to check is the official 2025-26 schedule, so the figures below are labeled 2025-26 (OHSU 2025-26 Tuition and Fees). Living costs come from the 2026-2027 cost of attendance budget.

MD Tuition and Fees by Term, 2025-26

The MD program is a flat-fee, lock-step program. Students are charged the full listed tuition and fees for each term of enrollment, and MD students are enrolled for four terms a year (summer, fall, winter and spring).

Total charges per term include a $583 university fee, a $17 student council fee, $111 for dental insurance and $2,302 for major medical insurance. Insurance is charged in fall, winter and spring. Students admitted in summer pay a separate summer insurance charge ($983.66 major medical and $47.69 dental in summer 2025). Each class year pays a different rate because of the Tuition Promise: the 2nd-year rate is the rate locked in when that class entered.

For a student who entered in 2025, first-year costs over four terms work out to:

• Tuition: $48,972 (resident) or $75,280 (nonresident).
• Tuition plus university and student council fees: $51,372 (resident) or $77,680 (nonresident).
• Health and dental insurance: about $8,270 in the first year, including the summer charge.

The MD/MPH program has its own five-year rate schedule, starting at $11,254 per term for residents and $17,281 for nonresidents in the 2025-26 first year.

The OHSU Tuition Promise

Under the OHSU Tuition Promise, new students in eligible programs, including the MD and MD/MPH, “will not incur a tuition rate increase over their first year tuition rates during the remaining years of their degree,” as long as they finish within the program’s normal timeline (OHSU Tuition and Fees). Fees, books, supplies and equipment charges can still change. OHSU’s page states that the promise applies to students admitted from 2014-15 through 2026-27 and that new Tuition Promise rates for future admits are subject to approval by the Provost’s office. If you are applying for August 2027 entry, confirm the 2027-28 rates and promise terms with the Office of Financial Aid once they are posted.

The promise makes the total predictable. At 2025-26 first-year rates held for four years, tuition alone would come to about $195,900 for residents and $301,100 for nonresidents. Oregon Heritage students pay the nonresident rate.

Living Expenses and Total Cost

OHSU’s 2026-2027 budget for students living off campus is $2,937 per month: $2,223 for food and housing, $501 for transportation and $213 for personal expenses. Students living with a parent are budgeted $1,270 per month (OHSU Estimated Total Cost of Attendance, 2026-2027). OHSU does not provide on-campus student housing. Living expenses are budgeted at three months for each full term, and terms with fewer than 10 weeks of enrollment are prorated. Twelve months at the off-campus rate comes to $35,244.

The 2026-2027 budget also lists required books and supplies of $754 for first-year MD and MD/MPH students and additional education costs, such as licensing exams and residency interviews, of $1,466 in the first year, $1,689 in the second, $712 in the third and $5,350 in the fourth.

Putting these together, with twelve months of living costs, gives a rough first-year estimate of about $97,000 for an Oregon resident and about $123,000 for a nonresident living off campus, using 2025-26 tuition and fees and the 2026-2027 living budget. That is close to the most recent AAMC figures, which list a first-year total cost of attendance of $94,089 in state and $120,397 out of state for academic year 2025-2026, including $51,372 or $77,680 in tuition and fees and $8,270 for health insurance (AAMC Tuition, Fees and Insurance report). Use OHSU’s cost of attendance worksheet for your own budget.

Financial Aid, Scholarships and Debt

Almost every OHSU student uses some form of financial assistance. The Office of Financial Aid connects students with scholarships, federal and state grants, work-study and student loans, and its personal finance and debt counselors help students build an educational debt management plan. You can reach the office at [email protected] or 503-494-7800.

For graduate Direct Unsubsidized loans first disbursed between July 1, 2026, and June 30, 2027, the interest rate is 8.07%. In academic year 2023-2024, 99% of OHSU medical students received financial aid, and average graduate indebtedness was $232,316 (AAMC debt report, 2023-2024).

OHSU also runs the Scholars for a Healthy Oregon Initiative, a scholarship program listed among the university’s financial aid resources. Because program terms can change, ask financial aid about current eligibility and service commitments before counting on it.

Campus Facilities and Student Life

Two Portland Campuses

OHSU’s main campus sits on Marquam Hill in southwest Portland, a 116-acre site that holds OHSU Hospital, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the Casey Eye Institute and the Portland VA Medical Center across the sky bridge. The second campus, South Waterfront, sits along the Willamette River. There the Robertson Life Sciences Building houses the UME offices and much of the teaching space shared with other OHSU schools.

Portland itself is a major draw: a walkable city with good public transit (TriMet buses, MAX light rail and the Portland Streetcar), easy access to the Columbia River Gorge, Mount Hood and the Oregon coast, and a strong food and arts scene. It is also an expensive city, which matters given OHSU’s housing situation.

Housing

OHSU does not provide on-campus student housing, so nearly all MD students rent in Portland. OHSU’s student housing page points students to apartments, houses and condominiums for rent, to College Housing Northwest, which offers affordable student housing in Portland with low deposits, and to the Marquam Hill Cooperative, a 23-bedroom self-governed house at the edge of the Marquam Hill campus for graduate students (OHSU Student Housing). When you rotate outside Portland, including on the rural rotation, OHSU’s Office of Learner Placement and Housing coordinates furnished housing through leases and community partnerships across the state.

Academic Support and Student Affairs

The UME Curriculum and Student Affairs office, led by assistant deans for student affairs, career advising and academic progress, supports students from orientation through the residency match. The OASIS program (Outreach, Advising, Support, and Identity Formation for Students) provides advising and support. Academic support includes learning and test-taking strategies, time management help, and workshops and one-on-one sessions for USMLE Step 1, Step 2 CK and shelf exams. Formal peer tutoring is available in both the Foundations and Clinical Experience phases, including small-group tutoring in the anatomy lab (OHSU Academic Support and Tutoring).

Service and Community

Service is part of student life at OHSU. Through the Bridges Collaborative, students from OHSU, Oregon State University and Portland State University volunteer together to serve vulnerable residents. The Northwest Native American Center of Excellence supports Indigenous learners and runs the Native Health Experience. The School of Medicine’s diversity office offers mentorship, partnerships and resources, and the admissions team hosts virtual “Ask Me Anything” sessions every other month for current applicants, which are a good way to hear directly from the office.

Interprofessional Learning

OHSU trains physicians alongside nurses, dentists, pharmacists, physician assistants, public health students and others. Interprofessional education is built into the Foundations phase, starting with orientation activities that include students from every school. If you have worked closely with nurses, pharmacists or therapists, OHSU’s model gives you a natural way to talk about teamwork in your essays and interviews.

Clinical Rotations and Research Opportunities

Core Clinical Training and Sites

Core clinical experiences in family medicine, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery begin for most students in the winter term of the second year. Training takes place at OHSU Hospital and clinics, Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, the Portland VA Medical Center and community and regional sites across Oregon. Because many rotations are outside Portland, expect some travel and time away. OHSU’s Office of Learner Placement and Housing arranges housing during those rotations.

The Rural Rotation

The Rural Rotation is required. It lasts at least four full-time weeks in a rural Oregon community, defined by the State of Oregon Office of Rural Health as a place 10 or more miles from the center of a population center of 40,000 or more. It can be a core rotation or an elective, in any clinical discipline or focused on community work. Eric M. Wiser, M.D., a family physician who practiced in the small town of Sublimity, is Assistant Dean for Rural Medical Education.

Students who want more rural training can choose rural electives, pursue Oregon FIRST with the Cascade East Family Medicine Residency, or use their Scholarly Project to study rural health delivery.

Continuity, Electives and Away Rotations

The Continuity Clinical Experience keeps students with the same patients, health system or preceptor for at least eight weeks. Beyond the core, students choose at least 22 credits of clinical electives at OHSU, regional sites, away rotations or approved international clinical experiences. Away rotations used for the continuity requirement need approval from the Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education.

Research Routes

Research at OHSU ranges from basic science to clinical trials and health services research. Major centers include the Knight Cancer Institute, where Brian J. Druker, M.D., developed Gleevec and which is now growing after a $2 billion commitment from Phil and Penny Knight in 2025; the Casey Eye Institute; the primate research center on OHSU’s West Campus in Beaverton; and OCTRI, the university’s clinical and translational research institute.

MD students have four main research routes:

1. Scholarly Projects. Required for all students, with faculty mentors and dedicated coursework.
2. Physician-Scientist experience. A five-month block within the four-year MD, or a year out for a Master of Clinical Research.
3. MD/MPH. A year of concentrated public health study with an epidemiology concentration.
4. MD/PhD. Full PhD training in one of more than ten School of Medicine graduate programs or in public health.

The Pathology Student Experience offers a year of hands-on work in pathology for students considering that field.

Service Clinics and Community Work

Students serve vulnerable Portland residents through the Bridges Collaborative with OSU and PSU students, and the Native Health Experience places students at Tribal health clinical sites. Combined with the rural rotation, these give students repeated contact with the underserved populations OHSU’s mission targets.

Notable Alumni, Faculty, Leadership and Admissions Staff

The people below hold verified roles at OHSU, listed on official OHSU pages checked October 28, 2026. Profiles explain each person’s work and why it matters to applicants. They do not imply that any of them will mentor or evaluate you.

School Leadership

Nathan R. Selden, M.D., Ph.D., Dean of the School of Medicine. Dr. Selden was appointed dean on June 20, 2024, after serving as interim dean from February 2024 (Meet Dean Nathan Selden). A pediatric neurosurgeon, he joined OHSU and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in 2000 and chaired the Department of Neurological Surgery for eight years. He holds the Mario and Edith Campagna Chair in Pediatric Neurosurgery, was co-principal investigator and surgeon for the first trial of human neural stem cell therapy, and is a past president of both the Congress of Neurological Surgeons and the Society of Neurological Surgeons. He received the ACGME’s Parker Palmer Courage to Teach Award in 2013 and co-wrote The Rhetoric of Medicine: Lessons on Professionalism from Ancient Greece. His long record in medical education explains why teaching and professionalism are emphasized at OHSU.

Kelly J. Caverzagie, M.D., Senior Associate Dean for Education. Since July 2024, Dr. Caverzagie has overseen all of the School of Medicine’s education programs, from the MD program through residency, continuing education and graduate studies (Kelly Caverzagie, M.D.). An internal medicine hospitalist, he previously led a full curriculum redesign at the University of Nebraska College of Medicine and helped develop the ACGME Internal Medicine Milestones. He serves on the ACGME Board of Directors and is chair-elect of the AMA Council on Medical Education. His focus on competency-based assessment fits the WBA and EPA system described above.

Benjamin Schneider, M.D., Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education. Dr. Schneider leads the MD program, which includes admissions, assessment, curriculum, student affairs, OASIS and teaching services (OHSU MD Program About Us). His welcome to applicants describes the goal of graduating physicians “with the skills to listen, communicate, innovate, lead, and provide the care their communities need.” Approval for curriculum slowdowns and continuity rotations away from OHSU runs through his office.

Rebecca Cantone, M.D., Assistant Dean for Student Affairs. Dr. Cantone leads student affairs for the MD program, working with Lauren Sigman, M.D., Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for Career Advising, and Travis Philipp, M.D., Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for Academic Progress. Applicants who want to know how OHSU supports wellness, advising and residency planning can ask about these roles at the interview day information session.

Admissions Leadership and Staff

Robert Cloutier, M.D., M.C.R., Assistant Dean for UME Admissions. Dr. Cloutier leads MD admissions. The admissions office he oversees runs the secondary, interviews and committee review described in this guide. His M.C.R. (Master of Clinical Research) reflects the clinical research training OHSU offers through its Physician-Scientist track.

Katy Guertin-Davis, M.S., Manager of Admissions. Ms. Guertin-Davis manages the admissions office. Questions about eligibility, residency declarations, required documents and fee waivers go to the office at [email protected], which OHSU asks applicants to add to their safe senders list.

Kari Kriedberg, Program Manager for UME Admissions Interviews. Ms. Kriedberg manages the interview program, including the virtual MMI circuit and the one-on-one interviews. Interview scheduling and logistics questions are handled by her team.

Faculty

Eric M. Wiser, M.D., Assistant Dean for Rural Medical Education. Dr. Wiser is a family physician whose clinical interests include pregnancy care, women’s health, rural health care education and general primary care (Eric M. Wiser, M.D.). After an obstetrics fellowship in Spokane, he and his wife, also a family physician, ran a family practice in Sublimity, Oregon, before he joined OHSU. He earned his M.D. at Temple University. His role shows how central rural training is to the MD program.

Brian J. Druker, M.D., Professor of Medicine and President of Knight Cancer Group. Dr. Druker developed Gleevec, which turned chronic myeloid leukemia from a fatal disease into a manageable condition and launched the era of precision medicine. On OHSU’s faculty since 1993, he is associate dean for oncology, a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and a winner of the Lasker-DeBakey Award and the Japan Prize. He now leads the Knight Cancer Institute’s expansion after the Knights’ 2025 commitment. For research-minded applicants, his work is the clearest example of OHSU’s translational research strength.

David M. Lewinsohn, M.D., Ph.D., Director of the MD/PhD Program. Dr. Lewinsohn is a professor of pulmonary, allergy and critical care medicine who earned his M.D. and Ph.D. at Stanford (David M. Lewinsohn, M.D., Ph.D.). His laboratory studies how human CD8+ T cells recognize cells infected with tuberculosis, and he directs OHSU’s Center for Global Child Health Research. MD/PhD applicants will find his lab a good example of OHSU research that links basic immunology with global health.

Alex Foster, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the MD/MPH Program. Dr. Foster is an associate professor in the Division of Hospital Medicine who cares for hospitalized children and conducts clinical research on reducing childhood obesity and on drug dosing for children with obesity. He earned his M.P.H. at OHSU in 2008 and completed his pediatrics residency at the Children’s Hospital at Montefiore. His career shows how an MPH can support clinical research.

Alumni

Travis Philipp, M.D., Class of 2014. Dr. Philipp earned his M.D. at OHSU in 2014, completed his orthopaedic surgery residency at OHSU in 2019 and trained in spine surgery at NYU Langone (Travis Philipp, M.D.). He is now an associate professor of orthopaedics and rehabilitation and the MD program’s Assistant Dean of Student Affairs for Academic Progress. His path from OHSU student to OHSU resident to student affairs dean shows how many graduates stay connected to the school.

Ivan M. Woolley, M.D., Class of 1919. The School of Medicine Alumni Association was founded in Dr. Woolley’s home, with Woolley as its first president. Fellow officers included Claude A. Lewis, M.D. ’16, and John C. Brougher, M.D. ’28. The association they began still connects graduates of the school today.

Admissions Statistics and Class Profile

OHSU’s admissions page gives an applicant snapshot and an entering class profile. The school does not state which year the figures describe, so treat them as the current school profile.

Applicant Snapshot

• Total applications: 6,000+
• Oregonians: 7% of applicants
• Out-of-state applicants: 93%
• Applicants interviewed: 543
• Applicants accepted: 230+
• Class size: approximately 150

For the 2025 entering class, Oregon residents made up about 7% of verified applications but 48% of the applicants interviewed, which shows how much of the residency preference is applied at the interview stage. Total MD enrollment was 668 students in October 2025.

The School of Medicine as a whole prepares more than 2,200 students and trainees, including MD students, PA students, graduate students, residents and fellows.

Acceptance Rate

OHSU does not publish an acceptance rate. Its snapshot of 230+ acceptances from 6,000+ applications works out to roughly 4 in 100 applicants receiving an offer. Two cautions apply. Both counts are rounded, and the rate is very different for residents and nonresidents. Because 82% of entering students are Oregon residents while only 7% of applicants are Oregonians, an Oregon resident’s odds are many times higher than a nonresident’s. About 1 in 11 applicants (543 of 6,000+) is interviewed.

Entering Class Academics

• Average total GPA: 3.66
• Average science GPA: 3.57

• Average MCAT: 509

• Median MCAT, accepted applicants (2025 entering class): 511

• Median GPA, accepted applicants (2025 entering class): 3.83 total, 3.79 science

These are averages and medians, not cutoffs. OHSU’s minimums are a 2.80 GPA and a 497 MCAT. Compare these numbers with other schools using IMA’s table of medical school GPA and MCAT averages.

Entering Class Profile

• Oregon residents: 82%
• Average age: 27
• Previous applicants: 32%
• Undergraduate institutions represented: 70+

The average age of 27 and the share of reapplicants stand out. Many OHSU students worked, served or studied for several years after college before matriculating, and nearly a third applied more than once. In the 2025 entering class, 9% already held a graduate degree, 75% had majored in science or math, 41% indicated disadvantaged status, and the class included 104 women, 44 men and 2 students of another gender identity. Family medicine, internal medicine and anesthesiology have been the most common specialty intentions among recent graduates, and 14% of 2025 graduates reported a global health experience during medical school. If you are considering time between college and medical school, structured pre-med gap year programs, full-time clinical jobs and research positions are all common paths to a stronger application.

What the Numbers Mean for You

• Oregon residents and Heritage applicants compete for most of the class. Strong academics plus a clear commitment to Oregon communities make a competitive application.
• Nonresidents without Oregon ties compete for a small number of seats. Your record needs to be outstanding in academics and in health care, leadership or service.
• Reapplicants are common. If you reapply, show what changed: new experiences, improved scores, or deeper reflection.

Tips and Strategies for Admission

1. Decide Honestly Whether OHSU Fits

OHSU’s preferences are explicit. If you are a nonresident with no Oregon Heritage and no WICHE certification, ask whether your record is truly outstanding in academics and in health care, leadership or service. If it is, OHSU is a reasonable reach. If not, the $120 fee may be better spent elsewhere. Remember that OHSU does not prescreen, so receiving a secondary does not mean you are a strong candidate.

2. Build Experience That Matches the Mission

OHSU names rural health, underserved areas, primary care and biomedical research. Build sustained experience in at least one. Rural clinic work, community health worker roles, scribe jobs in small hospitals, free clinic volunteering and long-term research all fit. Hands-on clinical internships for pre-med students that serve underserved communities can add direct patient contact, especially if your local options are limited. Whatever you choose, aim for depth: one role you held for two years usually says more than six roles you held for a month each.

3. Show Independence and Self-Directed Learning

OHSU wants “independent, lifelong learners.” Give evidence: a project you started, a skill you taught yourself, a teaching role, a research question you pursued on your own. In essays, show how you identified a gap in your knowledge and closed it.

4. Demonstrate the 17 Competencies Outside Your Transcript

Because competencies have replaced prerequisites, your activities carry much of the weight. Map your experiences to the professional, science and thinking-and-reasoning competencies. If written communication or quantitative reasoning are not obvious from your activities, think about where you have shown them: a lab report, a grant proposal, a tutoring role, a data project.

5. Choose Letters That Cover Different Sides of You

Meet the three-faculty minimum with at least one science letter, then add nonacademic letters from clinical supervisors or physicians you shadowed. A supervisor who watched you with patients during medical internships for undergraduates or a long-term clinic job can describe your empathy, reliability and teamwork in ways professors cannot.

6. Write Honest, Reflective Secondary Essays

OHSU’s 2026-2027 prompts ask about setbacks, difficult feedback, changed beliefs and even selfishness. These questions reward honesty and reflection. Pick real moments, describe what you did, and spend at least half of each essay on what you learned. Do not reuse essays written for other schools without rewriting them for OHSU’s exact questions.

7. Use the Activity Timeline Carefully

OHSU asks for your employment and activities history for the five years before matriculation, with dates, a short description and the city and state for each. Gaps of three months or longer need an explanation. Fill this in carefully and consistently with your AMCAS entries.

8. Submit Early

OHSU’s admissions are modified rolling, so later interviews are still interviews for real seats. Even so, submitting your AMCAS application early and returning the secondary quickly gives the committee more time with your file and avoids delays from the four to six weeks AMCAS takes to deliver your application.

9. Prepare for the MMI

The MMI tests how you think and communicate under time pressure. Practice short, structured responses to ethical scenarios, teamwork tasks and policy questions, and practice on video, since the interview is fully remote.

Secondary Application Questions, Example Responses and Analysis

OHSU does not publish its secondary prompts on its website. The 2026-2027 prompts below are reproduced word for word from the current secondary, as reported by applicants this cycle. They include:

• Seven MD essays, each with a maximum of 1,550 characters.
• Two optional questions (Oregon ties and OHSU relationships), each up to 1,550 characters.
• An activity timeline explanation of up to 4,000 characters in the Employment/Activities History.
• Three Supplemental Information questions, two with a 4,000-character maximum and one with no maximum.
• Six additional questions for MD/PhD applicants, each up to 1,500 characters.

Are all seven essays required? OHSU has not published whether applicants must answer all seven essays or choose some of them. None of the seven is marked optional in the current secondary. Plan to answer all seven, and follow any instruction shown in your portal.

Write to the character limits shown in your portal. Characters include spaces and punctuation, so check your count in the portal itself before you submit. You can save and edit the secondary until you pay and submit, but once it is submitted you cannot change it. Your deadline is in your invitation email.

The examples below are original illustrations. Each is labeled as an illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay. They show structure and depth. Do not copy them; write from your own experiences. For prompts from other schools, see IMA’s medical school secondary essay prompts database.

MD Essay 1: A Moment That Changed Your Trajectory

“What is a moment in your life that could have or changed your trajectory?” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. The prompt asks for one moment, not a whole story of your life, and how it changed (or could have changed) the direction you were heading. The wording appears exactly this way in the current secondary. Read it as “a moment that changed, or could have changed, your trajectory.” Either type of moment works, as long as you explain the before, the after and why.

How to approach it. Open in the moment itself, with specific details. Then state clearly what your plan was before and what changed. Spend the second half on why it changed you and what you will do with that change at OHSU.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

At 2 a.m. in a 25-bed hospital in eastern Oregon, I was scribing for the only physician on shift when a rancher came in with crushing chest pain. The nearest cath lab was hours away. I watched her read his ECG, start treatment, call for transfer and then sit with his wife while they waited for the helicopter. My job was to type. I typed, and I also paid attention to everything else she was doing.

Before that night, my plan was a research career in a city lab. I liked medicine as a set of problems, and I assumed the interesting problems lived in big academic centers. That shift changed my sense of where the hard problems are. The physician had to be the cardiologist, the dispatcher and the person who explained a frightening plan to a family, all within an hour, with no specialist down the hall.

I asked to keep scribing nights for the next year. I saw the same pattern again: skilled doctors stretched across a huge area, patients driving two hours for follow-up, and good outcomes that depended on one clinician’s judgment.

My trajectory did not flip. It widened. I still love research, and I now want it to answer questions that matter to small hospitals, such as how to speed up transfers. That is why OHSU’s required rural rotation and its Scholarly Projects matter to me. I want to train where rural care is part of the curriculum, and then work on improving it.

Why this example works.

• One clear moment. The essay centers on a single night shift, told with concrete details: the time, the hospital size, the cath lab distance.
• A real before and after. The writer names the old plan (urban research) and the new one (research that serves small hospitals), and admits the change was a widening, not a reversal. That honesty is more believable than a sudden conversion.
• Shows sustained follow-through. Asking to keep scribing nights for a year shows the moment led to action.
• Connects to OHSU. The required rural rotation and Scholarly Projects are both verified parts of YOUR M.D.

Mistakes to avoid. Choosing a moment that only restates your personal statement. Describing the event for 1,400 characters and leaving one line for reflection. Claiming a dramatic change you cannot support with what you did afterward.

MD Essay 2: An Endeavor That Did Not Go to Plan

“Describe the effect of an endeavor that didn’t go according to your plan.” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. The key word is “effect.” OHSU wants to know what happened as a result of a plan that failed or changed, both in the outcome and in you.

How to approach it. Briefly state the plan and what went wrong. Then show what you did next, and what effect it had on the project, the people involved and your own approach. Pick a project you led or shaped, so the failure and the fix are yours.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

In my junior year I started a free blood pressure table at a laundromat near campus. I had the cuffs, a volunteer partner, printed handouts and a clear plan: forty screenings a month and referrals for anyone with a high reading.

The first Saturday, two people stopped. The second, one. By the end of the month we had screened nine people, and three of them were my friends.

I was frustrated, then curious. I asked the owner, Rosa, why nobody came over. She laughed and said people did not want strangers in matching shirts telling them they were sick on their day off. She suggested we sit at the folding table everyone used for sorting socks, wear plain clothes, and offer coffee first.

We tried it. We also moved to Sunday evenings, when the shift workers she knew came in. Within two months we were seeing about twenty people a month, and several came back to show us readings from the clinic we had referred them to.

The effect of that failed first month has stayed with me. I used to think a good plan was one I had thought through carefully. Now I think a good plan is one I have tested with the people it is meant to serve. When I joined a student research project the next year, I asked to interview patients before we wrote the survey, and the questions we dropped were the ones Rosa would have laughed at.

I expect to make plans that miss in medical school too. I would rather find that out early, ask why, and listen to people like Rosa, than keep defending a plan that looks good only on paper.

Why this example works.

• A clear plan and a clear miss. Specific targets (forty screenings) make the failure concrete (nine screenings, three of them friends).
• Curiosity instead of blame. The writer asks why and listens to someone with local knowledge.
• Measurable recovery. The changes and results are specific: plain clothes, the sorting table, Sunday evenings, twenty people a month.
• The effect is stated directly. The writer explains how the experience changed their approach to later work, including a research project, and how they expect to handle failure in medical school.

Mistakes to avoid. Choosing a “failure” that was really a success. Blaming others for the plan going wrong. Ending at the failure without showing the effect on what you did next.

MD Essay 3: An Ordinary Place Made Extraordinary

“What is an ordinary place that feels extraordinary because of what happened there?” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. This prompt is new for 2026-2027. It asks for a specific, ordinary place and the events that gave it meaning. It is an invitation to show who you are through a story, not a request for a list of achievements.

How to approach it. Describe the place with a few concrete details so the reader can see it. Then tell what happened there and what it taught you. A link to medicine is welcome but should feel natural.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

My aunt’s kitchen table is a scratched laminate square with one short leg, propped up by a folded church bulletin. For most of my life it was where we played cards.

After her stroke, it became where we sorted her medications. Every Sunday I sat with her and a plastic pill organizer with twenty-eight compartments. She had eleven prescriptions from four different clinicians. Two of them did the same job. One had been stopped at the hospital, but nobody had told her pharmacy.

The table is extraordinary to me because that is where I first understood that care continues after the clinic door closes. We made a list in large print and taped it inside the cabinet. We called the pharmacy together, with her on speaker so she could give consent and ask her own questions. When she was too tired to talk, we sat there anyway and I read her the newspaper.

At that table I learned three things a classroom had not taught me. Patients carry the whole system home with them, including its mistakes. Small tools, like a list in large print, can prevent real harm. And being useful sometimes means just staying in the chair.

I think about that table when I read about OHSU’s continuity clinical experience, where students follow the same patients or preceptors over weeks. I want to learn medicine in a way that keeps the kitchen table in view: the place where instructions either make sense or fall apart. My aunt still lives on her own. The table still wobbles. The list is still taped inside the cabinet.

Why this example works.

• The place is truly ordinary. A wobbly kitchen table is vivid and believable.
• What happened is specific. Eleven prescriptions, four clinicians, a duplicated drug and a stopped medication show real problems without exaggeration.
• The lessons are clear. The writer names three takeaways, each grounded in the story.
• The OHSU link fits. The Continuity Clinical Experience is a verified curriculum requirement, and the connection to following patients over time is natural.

Mistakes to avoid. Choosing a famous or exotic place, which works against the prompt. Writing a travel description with no event. Forcing a medical lesson onto a place where nothing medical happened.

MD Essay 4: Environments Where You Thrive Most and Least

“Tell us about what environments allow you to thrive the most and the least.” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. Two parts: where you do your best work and where you struggle. The committee is looking for self-awareness and for evidence that you can adapt.

How to approach it. Describe each environment with a real example. Give the “least” side honest attention, then show what you do when you find yourself there. A link to OHSU’s learning model is useful because the school relies heavily on small groups and frequent feedback.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

I thrive most in small teams with a shared goal, clear roles and frequent, honest feedback. As a peer tutor for organic chemistry, I worked in groups of four. We met twice a week, each student explained one problem to the others, and we corrected each other on the spot. I learned more from those sessions than from any lecture, partly because I could not hide what I did not understand. I also thrive when I can see the person affected by the work. In my hospice volunteer role, knowing which family I was visiting next made it easy to stay focused through a long day.

I thrive least in settings where the goal is vague and feedback comes rarely, if at all. In my first research job, I spent weeks cleaning a data set without knowing what question it would answer or whether I was doing it right. I drifted, worked slowly and second-guessed every choice.

I have learned to change that kind of environment rather than wait for it to change. In the lab, I asked my supervisor for a fifteen-minute check-in every Friday and wrote down the question each task was meant to answer. My pace doubled, and the check-ins became the part of my week I looked forward to.

That is part of why OHSU’s model appeals to me. Small-group learning, early preceptorship and workplace-based assessments throughout the clinical phase are the kind of structure where I do my best work. I know medical school will also include long, isolating stretches, and I plan to bring the Friday check-in habit with me.

Why this example works.

• Both halves answered. The writer describes thriving in small teams with feedback and struggling in vague, isolated work, each with a concrete example.
• Honest weakness. Admitting to drifting and working slowly is credible and shows self-awareness.
• Adaptation. The Friday check-in shows the writer can change an environment rather than just complain about it.
• Accurate OHSU fit. Small-group learning, preceptorship and workplace-based assessments are all verified parts of YOUR M.D., and the writer acknowledges medical school will also have hard stretches.

Mistakes to avoid. Claiming you thrive everywhere. Describing a “least” environment that is just another strength. Saying you struggle in exactly the environment OHSU uses most, without showing how you cope.

MD Essay 5: Difficult Feedback

“Discuss your experience of recent personal feedback that was difficult to receive.” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. The feedback should be recent and personal, and it should have been hard to hear. OHSU’s curriculum is built on frequent feedback, so the committee wants to see how you respond.

How to approach it. State the feedback plainly, admit your first reaction, then show what you did. A strong answer includes a specific change and evidence that it worked.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

Last spring, the nurse manager on the unit where I work as a CNA pulled me aside. She said a patient’s daughter had told her I was kind but that I talked over her mother. I had been so focused on finishing my vitals and charting on time that I filled every silence with instructions. The patient, who had aphasia after a stroke, needed time to answer, and I was not giving it.

It was hard to hear because I thought of myself as a good listener. My first reaction was to explain that we were short-staffed that day. I did say that, and then I stopped, because it did not change what the daughter had experienced.

I asked the manager what she would do differently. She suggested counting silently to five after every question before saying anything else, and watching the patient’s hands and face for an answer. It felt awkward, and my vitals took longer. I also asked the speech therapist on our unit for ten minutes of advice on communicating with patients who have aphasia, and she showed me how to use yes or no questions and a simple picture board.

Two weeks later, the same patient used the board to tell me she was cold, something she had probably wanted to tell us for days.

I learned that kindness without patience can still leave someone unheard. I also learned that the most useful response to feedback is a specific next step. OHSU’s workplace-based assessments and field-note feedback will give me plenty of input, and I plan to answer each one the same way: thank the person, ask what to try, then try it.

Why this example works.

• Recent and personal. The feedback is from last spring and is about the writer’s own behavior with a patient.
• Honest first reaction. The writer admits wanting to explain it away, then stops. That shows maturity without pretending to be perfect.
• Concrete change. Counting to five, watching for nonverbal answers, and asking the speech therapist for advice are specific, believable steps.
• Evidence of growth. The patient using the picture board shows the change mattered to a real person.
• OHSU link. WBAs and narrative feedback on field notes are verified parts of the curriculum.

Mistakes to avoid. Choosing feedback that is really praise (“I work too hard”). Arguing that the feedback was unfair. Describing the feedback but not what you changed.

MD Essay 6: Reconsidering a Deeply Held Belief

“Describe a time when you had to reconsider or change a deeply held belief or perspective. What prompted this change?” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. Two parts: the belief and how it changed, and what prompted the change. The belief should be one you truly held, not a straw man.

How to approach it. Explain where the belief came from, describe the experience or evidence that challenged it, and show what you believe now and how it affects your actions.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

For most of my life I believed addiction was mainly a matter of willpower. I grew up watching a relative relapse again and again, and the only explanation I heard at home was that he did not want to stop badly enough. I carried that belief into college without examining it.

It began to change when I volunteered at a syringe service program for a public health class. I went in expecting to disapprove. Instead I spent Saturday mornings handing out supplies, wound care kits and naloxone, and listening. One man, a former welder, told me he had been prescribed opioids after a back injury, and that he had tried to quit four times. He described withdrawal in the same matter-of-fact way my relative once had.

What prompted the change was not one story but the pattern. Person after person had started with pain, trauma or a prescription. Many wanted treatment but faced waitlists, cost or a clinic that would not see them without stable housing. I read about how opioid use disorder changes the brain’s reward pathways, and the science matched what I was hearing.

I no longer believe willpower is the main issue. I believe addiction is a medical condition shaped by biology and by circumstances, and that people deserve care without having to prove they have earned it.

It also changed how I talk with my relative, more honestly than ever before. I am glad that OHSU’s pain intersession covers pain and addiction together, because I have seen how closely they are connected and I want to learn to treat both well.

Why this example works.

• A real belief with a real source. The writer explains why they held the belief, which makes the change believable.
• What prompted the change is answered directly. The writer points to a pattern across many conversations, backed by reading the science.
• The new view is stated clearly. The writer states the new belief in one plain sentence.
• Respectful toward patients. People who use drugs are described with dignity, which matters for a future physician.
• Fit with OHSU. The pain intersession, which covers pain and addiction together, is a verified part of the curriculum.

Mistakes to avoid. Writing about a belief you only half held. Describing a change without saying what prompted it. Using the essay to argue a political position rather than show reflection.

MD Essay 7: When Selfishness Served You Well

“Describe a time when selfishness served you well.” (1,550 characters maximum)

What it asks. This prompt is new for 2026-2027 and deliberately provocative. It asks about a time you put your own needs or goals first and it turned out well. The committee is likely looking for honesty, judgment about limits and an understanding that caring for yourself can make you better at caring for others.

How to approach it. Pick a real decision that others might have seen as selfish. Own it rather than explaining it away. Then show the result and what you learned about balancing your needs with others’.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

During my second year of college I was president of our pre-health club, worked twelve hours a week at a pharmacy and volunteered at a free clinic. When a friend asked me to also run the club’s fundraiser, everyone assumed I would say yes. I said no.

Then I did something that felt even more selfish. I stepped back from the club presidency at midyear to take an evening course in Spanish for health care workers that met during our officer meetings. Some members were upset, and one told me I was putting my own goals ahead of the group.

In a narrow sense, she was right. I chose the class because I wanted it. At the free clinic, I kept watching Spanish-speaking patients wait for one of two interpreters while I stood there unable to help. I was tired of being useless in those moments.

That choice served me well. By the end of the year I could take a basic intake history in Spanish, and the clinic started scheduling me on nights when interpreters were short. The club did fine under the vice president, who turned out to be a better organizer than I was.

I learned that protecting time for my own growth is not always the opposite of service. Sometimes it is what makes service possible. I also learned to say no clearly and early, instead of saying yes and doing a poor job.

In medical school and beyond, I will need the same judgment about what to take on and what to let go. I hope to keep using it on behalf of patients, not only myself.

Why this example works.

• It owns the word. The writer admits the choice was selfish in a narrow sense instead of pretending otherwise.
• The stakes are clear. Stepping down mid-year upset people, so the decision had a real cost.
• The result benefits others too. Learning medical Spanish let the writer help patients, and the club did well under new leadership.
• The lesson is mature. Protecting time for growth can make service possible, and saying no early beats saying yes and doing poorly.

Mistakes to avoid. Choosing a trivial example, like skipping a party to study. Describing a choice that harmed others without acknowledging it. Turning the essay into a story of pure generosity, which ignores the prompt.

Optional Question: Additional Ties to Oregon

“Are there any additional ties to the state of Oregon you wish to share? If yes, use the space below. If no, leave blank. Please note that this does not factor toward your consideration as an Oregon resident or Oregon Heritage.” (1,550 characters maximum)

Guidance. Answer only if you have real ties beyond residency or Heritage: family in Oregon, past work or service in Oregon communities, time spent in rural Oregon, or concrete plans to practice in the state. Be specific about places, dates and relationships. Leave it blank if you have no ties; inventing a connection will not help. The school states that this answer does not affect resident or Heritage status, which is determined by your declarations and OHSU’s residency policy.

Optional Question: Relationships With OHSU Evaluators

“We know that many of our applicants in the OHSU UME Program may have familial relationships with individuals who are OHSU faculty, residents, staff, or current students who serve as evaluators in our admissions process. We have added this question in hopes to prevent perceived or actual conflicts of interest that can occur when an applicant has a family member (or someone with a similar close personal relationship) they may encounter through the admissions process. If you have any such connections, please list those individuals’ names and departments below. If no, leave blank.” (1,550 characters maximum)

Guidance. This is a disclosure list, not an essay. List each person’s full name, department and relationship to you in one line each, for example: “Name, Department of Pediatrics, aunt.” Do not add commentary or advocacy. Leave it blank if you have no such connections.

Employment/Activities History: Timeline Explanation

“Please use this space to explain anything on the activity timeline that may be confusing and/or for any activity gaps of 3 months or longer in your timeline above in the last 5 years.” (4,000 characters maximum)

What it asks. OHSU’s activity history covers the five years before you start medical school, with the timeline, description and city and state for each experience, including current and projected activities. This box is where you explain gaps of three months or more and anything that might confuse a reader, such as overlapping jobs or a sudden drop in hours.

How to approach it. Use short, labeled notes. Give dates, the reason, what you did during the period, and when it ended. Be factual and brief. You do not need to use all 4,000 characters, and you do not need to apologize for a gap with a good reason.

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

Timeline note 1: January 2023 to April 2023 (gap of about four months) After I graduated in December 2022, my father had spinal surgery and could not drive or work for three months. I moved home to Medford, Oregon, to help him recover. I drove him to appointments and physical therapy, managed his medications and took over the household errands while my mother worked full time. During this period I also studied for the MCAT about fifteen hours a week. I did not list this as an activity because it was family caregiving rather than a formal role. I returned to full-time work once he was cleared to drive in April 2023.

Timeline note 2: May 2023 to present, overlapping entries My timeline shows two jobs at the same time from May 2023 onward. I work as a medical scribe in the emergency department at a community hospital in Medford, about 32 hours a week on night and weekend shifts. During weekday mornings I also work about 8 hours a week as a research assistant for a family medicine clinic quality improvement project. The schedules do not overlap in hours, only in dates. The research role ends in June 2027, before matriculation.

Timeline note 3: September 2024 to November 2024 (reduced activity) My volunteer hours at the free clinic drop to zero for these three months. The clinic closed temporarily while it moved to a new building. I returned when it reopened in December 2024 and have volunteered there every other Saturday since.

Timeline note 4: Projected activities I have listed two projected entries. From January to June 2027 I will continue scribing and finish the research project. From July to August 2027 I plan to complete a supervised clinical internship and then move to Portland before orientation.

Why this example works.

• Every note has dates. The reader can match each note to the timeline.
• Gaps are explained plainly. Family caregiving and a clinic closure are stated without drama or apology.
• Confusing overlaps are resolved. The writer explains how two jobs fit in one week.
• Projected activities are included, as OHSU’s FAQ asks.

Mistakes to avoid. Leaving a three-month gap unexplained. Writing another personal essay here. Listing activities that do not appear on the timeline itself.

Supplemental Information Questions

OHSU’s FAQ states that you must answer all Supplemental Information questions, and that you may select “Decline to Answer” if you do not wish to disclose the information.

Supplemental question 1: Health care where you grew up

“Based on your own experiences or the experiences of family and friends, do you believe that the area in which you grew up was adequately served by the available health care professionals? Were there enough physicians, nurses, hospitals, clinics, and other health care service providers and how did that affect your experience and relationship with health care? Please explain.” (4,000 characters maximum)

Guidance. Answer the yes or no question first, then explain. Name the area, describe the care available (clinics, hospitals, specialists, travel distances, wait times) and give one or two concrete examples from your family or friends. Finish with how this shaped your relationship with health care. Both “yes” and “no” answers are fine. This question links directly to OHSU’s mission of serving underserved and rural Oregon.

Supplemental question 2: Adversity

“Please describe the nature of the adversity and how social, economic, academic, or other circumstances affected you and your opportunities.” (4,000 characters maximum)

Guidance. In recent cycles this question has followed a checkbox item asking about types of adversity, so check your portal for a preceding question. Describe the adversity factually, then explain how it affected your opportunities, such as work hours during school, access to advising, test preparation or clinical experiences. OHSU gives preference to applicants who have shown an ability to overcome adversity or have experienced inequities in the health care system, so be specific and honest. If this does not apply to you, select “Decline to Answer” or state that it does not apply, following your portal’s instructions.

Supplemental question 3: Anything else

“We acknowledge that our application is not fully comprehensive. If there is anything additional you would like to let us know about you, please briefly state it here.” (No maximum)

Guidance. “Briefly” is the key word, even with no limit. Use this for important information that does not appear elsewhere: a recent achievement, an update since AMCAS, or context for something in your record. If you have nothing to add, a single sentence saying so is fine.

MD/PhD Additional Questions

MD/PhD applicants answer six additional questions, each up to 1,500 characters.

1. “What specifically in the OHSU MD/PhD program interests you?” Name concrete features: the fully funded MSTP, the Scientific Oversight Committee, a specific graduate program, the eight-week Clinical and Translational Research Experience, or precepting during the PhD years. Connect each to your research goals.
2. “Please list 3-5 faculty members at OHSU whose research interests you. Please add a very brief statement for each faculty member explaining why. If possible, your research interview will be pulled from this list of faculty. Please disclose if you have worked with or are associated with any faculty members listed.” Use the format “Name, department: one or two sentences on why.” Choose faculty whose current work you have read, and disclose any prior contact.
3. “Thinking about one of your research projects, how could the results affect the way we diagnose and treat patients? If your research is non-biomedical, describe how it advances scientific knowledge.” Summarize the question, your role and the result in a few sentences, then explain the clinical or scientific significance realistically.
4. “Please list publications that have been published or submitted & pending. Please note your authorship and a brief description of your contribution to each publication. If possible, please provide a link to your direct online bibliography in pubmed or other online source. Do not list anything that is in the process of being written. Write N/A if nothing has been submitted or published.” Use a consistent citation format, mark your author position and add one line on your contribution. Write N/A if you have none.
5. “Please list successful grants, poster presentation, or invited speaking engagements. Write N/A if nothing has been awarded or presented.” List each with title, venue or funder, and date.
6. “Please review graduate programs available to OHSU MD/PhD students and list the graduate program(s) at OHSU that you are most interested in. Review OHSU MD/PhD graduate programs here.” Name one to three programs from OHSU’s current list and give a one-line reason for each.

The MD/PhD program does not accept applicants with DACA status. Other dual-degree applicants complete the combined degree addendum shown in the portal; follow its instructions exactly.

Using Your Experiences in the Essays

Most OHSU prompts reward a single, well-told experience. Clinical work is often the richest source, whether it comes from a job, a free clinic or pre-med internships abroad in underserved communities. Choose experiences where you had a real role and can describe specific patients or decisions, and spread your best stories across the seven essays rather than repeating one.

Interview Format and Preparation

Format

OHSU’s interviews for the 2027 cycle are entirely remote. The interview day includes:

• A virtual Multiple Mini Interview (MMI) circuit. A series of 8-minute mini-interviews. Before each, you have time to read the prompt, prepare and take notes.
• A one-on-one interview. A 30-minute interview with a member of the Admissions Committee, scheduled at a different time during your interview week.
• Orientation, lunch with current students and an information session about the MD program.

OHSU interviews 20 to 40 applicants per week from September through February. Because admissions are modified rolling, every interview is for a real seat in the class, regardless of the date. After your interview, the committee reviews your file once all scores and evaluations are in, usually two to eight weeks later. Your priority score combines the committee score, your MMI scores and your academics.

Preparing for the MMI

MMI stations typically present an ethical dilemma, a policy question, a teamwork scenario or a prompt about your own experience. OHSU does not publish its station content, so practice broadly:

• Use the prep time. Read the prompt twice, note the key issue, list the people affected and outline two or three points.
• Structure your answer. Identify the issue, consider several perspectives, propose an approach and explain your reasoning.
• Practice on video. Test your camera, lighting and microphone, and practice speaking to the camera rather than the screen.
• Know the mission. OHSU’s focus on rural health, underserved communities, primary care and research may come up naturally.

IMA’s list of the most common medical school interview questions is a useful starting point for practice.

Preparing for the One-on-One Interview

The 30-minute interview is a conversation with an admissions committee member. Be ready to discuss anything in your AMCAS application and secondary, including your activity timeline. Prepare clear answers to “Why OHSU?” and “Why medicine?” that reference specific parts of YOUR M.D., such as the rural rotation, the continuity experience, Scholarly Projects or narrative medicine. If you have Oregon ties, be ready to describe them concretely.

Practice With OHSU’s Earlier Secondary Themes

OHSU’s secondary prompts in earlier cycles asked about experiences that gave insight into the patients you hope to serve, your greatest challenge in becoming a physician other than work-life balance, a time you showed resilience, your path through OHSU’s recommended premedical competencies, difficult feedback, and how your experience contributes to diversity in health care. These themes make good one-on-one practice questions. For example, an answer about difficult feedback might sound like this:

Illustrative example, not an actual applicant essay

During my sophomore year, I took a discussion-based class for the first time. I had always learned best alone, so I planned to do well on exams and essays and skip the discussion. My professor asked why I was not participating. I told her the other students distracted me. She explained that participation was not just about grades and would help me understand the material. I did not listen, and my essays suffered along with my participation grade.

I took another discussion-based course with the same professor and committed to taking part. I came to love the format. I realized I had been treating learning like listening to a monologue, when it is more like a dialogue. Now, when I feel resistance to criticism, I treat it as a signal to step back and listen.

This answer works because it shows a real mistake, a change in behavior and a lasting lesson, and it fits OHSU’s small-group, feedback-heavy curriculum.

Getting Help

Mock interviews with honest feedback help most applicants, especially for the MMI format. IMA’s medical school admissions consulting offers mock interviews and interview strategy.

Frequently Asked Questions

How hard is it to get into OHSU School of Medicine?

Very hard, especially for nonresidents. OHSU receives more than 6,000 applications for about 150 seats, interviews 543 applicants and accepts 230+, roughly 4 in 100 applicants. Because 82% of entering students are Oregon residents but only 7% of applicants are Oregonians, residents have far better odds. Nonresidents need outstanding academics and significant experience in health care, leadership or service. Check your eligibility and fit before paying the secondary fee.

What GPA and MCAT do I need for OHSU?

The minimums for the 2027 cycle are a 2.80 cumulative AMCAS GPA and a 497 MCAT taken in 2023, 2024, 2025 or 2026. The entering class averages a 3.66 total GPA, a 3.57 science GPA and a 509 MCAT, and accepted applicants for the 2025 entering class had a median MCAT of 511 and a median GPA of 3.83. Treat these figures as your target, particularly if you are a nonresident. Applicants below the minimums are not eligible, even if they receive a secondary invitation.

Does OHSU prefer Oregon residents?

Yes. Oregon residents receive strong preference, and so do nonresidents with Oregon Heritage, who are treated like residents in admissions but pay nonresident tuition. Heritage applies if a parent or guardian lives in Oregon when you apply, if you attended and graduated from an Oregon high school after at least two years, or if you attended and graduated from an Oregon college after at least two years and apply within seven years. You must declare Oregon residency on both AMCAS and the secondary to be treated as a resident.

Does OHSU accept out-of-state applicants?

Yes. About 18% of entering students are not Oregon residents. OHSU gives preference to nonresidents with outstanding achievements in academics and significant experience in health care, leadership, extracurricular activities or community service, and to applicants who have overcome adversity or experienced health care inequities, WICHE-certified applicants and MD/PhD and MD/MPH candidates.

Does OHSU require prerequisite courses?

No. OHSU recommends 17 AAMC premedical competencies, which have fully replaced prerequisite coursework. You still need a strong science foundation for the MCAT and the Foundations of Medicine courses, so most applicants complete standard premedical science coursework. OHSU has no preferred major.

Does OHSU require Casper?

No. The Casper test is no longer required, and only the MCAT is required. OHSU does not list PREview or any other situational judgment test.

How many letters of recommendation does OHSU require?

OHSU requires letters from three college or university teaching faculty from any department, including at least one from a science department, or a committee letter or letter packet instead. Applicants out of college five or more years may submit two employer letters and one faculty letter. There is no maximum, and OHSU encourages nonacademic letters about health care or shadowing experience. All letters must come through the AMCAS Letter Service, on letterhead and signed.

How many secondary essays does OHSU have, and are they all required?

The 2026-2027 secondary has seven essays of up to 1,550 characters each, two optional questions, a 4,000-character activity timeline explanation and three supplemental questions. OHSU has not published whether applicants must answer all seven essays or choose some. None of the seven is marked optional, so plan to answer all of them and follow your portal’s instructions. MD/PhD applicants answer six more questions.

What is OHSU’s secondary application fee?

The non-refundable processing fee is $120, paid by Visa or MasterCard in the secondary portal. It is waived only for applicants who received an AMCAS fee waiver for the 2027 cycle. OHSU will not refund the fee for any reason, including if you turn out to be ineligible.

What is the OHSU interview like?

The interview is fully virtual. It includes a Multiple Mini Interview circuit of 8-minute stations, with prep time before each, and a separate 30-minute one-on-one interview with an admissions committee member. The day also includes an orientation, lunch with current students and an information session. Interviews run from September through February, with 20 to 40 applicants per week. For the 2025 entering class, Oregon residents made up 48% of the applicants interviewed.

How much does OHSU medical school cost?

In 2025-26, first-year MD tuition was $12,243 per term for residents and $18,820 for nonresidents, or $48,972 and $75,280 over four terms. Fees and insurance add about $10,700 a year. OHSU’s 2026-2027 living budget is $2,937 per month off campus, and the school has no on-campus housing. A rough first-year total is about $97,000 for residents and $123,000 for nonresidents.

Will my tuition increase while I am at OHSU?

Under the OHSU Tuition Promise, MD tuition stays at your first-year rate for the rest of the program if you finish on the normal timeline. Fees, books and supplies can still change. The promise as published covers students admitted through 2026-27, with rates for future admits subject to approval, so confirm the terms for 2027 entry with financial aid.

Does OHSU offer an MD/PhD or MD/MPH program?

Yes. The MD/PhD is fully funded, covering tuition, fees and stipend, and takes seven to eight years, with PhD options across School of Medicine graduate programs and the School of Public Health. It does not accept DACA applicants. The MD/MPH is a five-year program with the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, and you can only enter it when you are first admitted to the MD program. Applicants to both receive admissions preference.

Do OHSU students have to do a rural rotation?

Yes. Every MD student completes a rural rotation of at least four full-time weeks in a rural Oregon community, defined as 10 or more miles from the center of a population center of 40,000 or more. Housing during rotations is coordinated by OHSU’s Office of Learner Placement and Housing.

Does OHSU offer deferred admission or accept transfer students?

No. OHSU does not offer deferred admission, so be sure of your timeline before you apply. It is not considering transfer students for academic year 2026-2027. Current OHSU graduate students may apply but must finish their graduate program before enrolling.

What kind of clinical experience does OHSU look for?

OHSU does not set minimum hours, but it evaluates your understanding of health care, and nonresident preference depends on significant health care experience. Sustained, hands-on roles work best: scribe, CNA, EMT, medical assistant, long-term clinic volunteering or structured internships for pre-med students. Work in rural or underserved settings is especially relevant to OHSU’s mission.

When will I hear back from OHSU after my interview?

The admissions committee meets weekly and reviews most files two to eight weeks after the interview. You may be accepted, placed on hold or refused. Initial offers go out from mid-October through April 30, and the alternate list is set by May 1, with alternate offers continuing until orientation in August. You have up to one month to respond to an offer, and no deposit is required.

Related Medical School Guides

These guides cover public and mission-driven MD programs in the western United States that OHSU applicants often consider. They are not ranked by selectivity, and none is presented as a safety school.

• John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM): Hawaii’s public medical school shares OHSU’s strong in-state preference and its focus on serving the communities of its home state.
• UC Irvine School of Medicine: A West Coast public research school with dual degrees, useful for California applicants weighing OHSU’s research options against an in-state school.
• University of Utah School of Medicine: A western public school with a regional mission and strong in-state preference, a close parallel for applicants from the Mountain West.
• University of New Mexico School of Medicine: Like OHSU, UNM emphasizes rural and underserved care and gives strong preference to its own state’s residents.
• University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix: A public western MD program in a growing metro area, worth comparing for Arizona residents and applicants interested in urban underserved care.
• University of Arizona College of Medicine-Tucson: Arizona’s other public MD campus, with rural and border health opportunities that echo OHSU’s rural focus.
• Washington State University Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine: A Pacific Northwest neighbor built around community-based training in underserved parts of Washington.
• UC Davis School of Medicine: A Northern California public school with a strong primary care and rural health mission.

Oregon does not yet have an IMA state guide. For nearby states, see IMA’s guides to medical schools in Idaho, a Northwest state without its own MD school, and medical schools in California, home to many of OHSU’s out-of-state applicants.

More Medical School Guides

Explore IMA’s other definitive guides to medical schools across the country:

• University of Maryland School of Medicine
• Case Western Medical School
• University of North Carolina Medical School
• University of Florida Medical School
• Emory University School of Medicine
• Boston University School of Medicine
• California University of Science and Medicine
• UC San Diego Medical School
• California Northstate University College of Medicine
• Touro University of California
• CHSU College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Harvard Medical School
• UC Riverside School of Medicine
• USC Keck School of Medicine
• UT Southwestern Medical School
• Long School of Medicine at UT Health San Antonio
• University of the Incarnate Word School of Osteopathic Medicine
• UT Austin’s Dell Medical School
• UTMB School of Medicine
• McGovern Medical School at UT Health
• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
• The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine
• UNT Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine
• University of Houston College of Medicine
• Texas A&M College of Medicine
• Baylor College of Medicine
• George Washington University School of Medicine
• Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• St. George’s University School of Medicine
• Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (in Pennsylvania)
• Sidney Kimmel Medical College at Thomas Jefferson University
• Wake Forest University School of Medicine
• Western University of Health Sciences (in California)
• Drexel University College of Medicine
• Stritch School of Medicine at Loyola University Chicago
• Georgetown University School of Medicine
• Yale School of Medicine
• Perelman School of Medicine
• UCLA Medical School
• NYU Medical School
• Washington University School of Medicine
• Brown Medical School

How International Medical Aid Can Help

Pre-Med Internships

Like other medical schools, OHSU looks closely at applicants’ health care experience, and its selection factors put particular weight on understanding health care and serving underserved communities. International Medical Aid (IMA) offers medical internships abroad in Kenya and other countries. Its pre-health internships place pre-med students in medically underserved communities. Interns work under the supervision of experienced health care professionals. They take vitals, do patient intake and triage, and help with direct patient care, alongside didactic sessions in a range of specialties. Interns also see firsthand how health care works in a different system and with limited resources.

These experiences can give you specific stories for OHSU’s essays, such as a moment that shifted your path, a plan that did not work as expected or a belief you had to reconsider, and they can lead to a letter from a clinical supervisor. An internship does not guarantee admission to OHSU or any school, and IMA is not affiliated with OHSU. What it offers is supervised, hands-on clinical experience and the chance to reflect on it.

Personalized Help

Applying to medical school takes time, organization and dedication. IMA publishes guides like this one to help future physicians, but personalized help is often the most effective support. IMA’s medical school admissions consulting offers essay editing, mock interviews and overall application strategy from advisors with years of medical and educational experience. If OHSU is on your list, an advisor can help you judge your fit with its residency preferences, plan your seven secondary essays and practice for the MMI.

Next step: Review your eligibility against OHSU’s 2027-cycle requirements, then map your experiences to the seven essay prompts above before your secondary invitation arrives.

Final Thoughts and Sources

OHSU is a strong choice for applicants committed to Oregon, rural and underserved care, or research, and it rewards honesty and reflection in its secondary. Oregon residents and Heritage applicants have the clearest path. Nonresidents should apply only with outstanding records and a real reason to train in the Northwest. Confirm your eligibility, build sustained clinical experience, choose letters carefully, and draft all seven essays early. Then prepare for a virtual MMI and a 30-minute one-on-one interview. We wish you the best in your medical school journey.

Sources

Facts in this guide were checked on October 28 and 29, 2026.

• OHSU MD Program Admissions: requirements, preferences, applicant snapshot, entering class profile, key dates and process (current school profile; year not stated by the school).
• OHSU MD Program 2027-Cycle FAQ (PDF, September 2026): eligibility, Oregon residency and Heritage, letters, activity history, supplemental questions, fee and waivers, required documents, interview format and timing.
• OHSU M.D. Program home page: OHSU mission, School of Medicine size, Medical Student Handbook (updated August 2026).
• OHSU YOUR M.D. Curriculum: competencies, threads, EPAs and WBAs (academic year 2025-2026 wording), Foundations and Clinical Experience phases, rural and continuity requirements, intersessions, electives, Transition to Residency, Scholarly Projects and narrative medicine.
• OHSU Degree, Dual Degree and Other Opportunities: MD/PhD, MD/MPH, OMS, Physician-Scientist, Pathology, Oregon FIRST and Native Health Experience.
• OHSU School of Medicine Accreditation and LCME Accreditation pages: LCME status and next survey (2027-2028).
• OHSU School of Medicine History: founding, campus and milestones.
• OHSU MD Program About Us, Meet Dean Nathan Selden and OHSU faculty profile pages: leadership, admissions staff, faculty and alumni roles.
• OHSU 2025-26 Tuition and Fee Charges by Term (official schedule dated June 27, 2025): MD and MD/MPH tuition, fees and insurance.
• OHSU Tuition and Fees: Tuition Promise terms.
• OHSU Estimated Total Cost of Attendance, 2026-2027: living expenses, books and supplies, additional education costs and federal loan rates.
• OHSU Student Housing and Academic Support and Tutoring pages.
• AAMC Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) school profile for Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, 2026 edition: 2025 entering class MCAT and GPA medians, applications and interviews by residency, enrollment, 2026-2027 deadlines and policies, Tuition and Student Fees survey 2025-2026 and Graduation Questionnaire 2025. Accessed October 29, 2026.
• AAMC MSAR Tuition, Fees and Insurance report (Tuition and Student Fees survey) and MSAR Debt Information report (LCME Part I-B, academic year 2023-2024).
• 2026-2027 secondary prompts: verified word for word in current-cycle applicant compilations (Student Doctor Network 2026-2027 OHSU thread and Med School Insiders 2026-2027 prompt list), checked October 28, 2026.